Gold Stuck and Going Nowhere as Traders Wait for Fed Minutes

Gold is effectively flat as investors sit on the sidelines and wait for the Federal Open Market Committee minutes.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Gold prices were little changed on Tuesday as a light week of economic data coupled with a strong June jobs report left traders without a meaningful shift in fundamentals.

Gold for August delivery at the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was effectively flat at $1,317.10 an ounce. The gold price traded as high as $1,325.70 and as low as $1,315.60 an ounce, while the spot price was off $3.60, or 0.27%.

Marex Spectron's head of precious metals, David Govett, summed up the silent trading day in a note to clients about action in Asia and Europe.

"Overnight in Asia, I actually thought my screen had broken, when this morning the price was exactly the same as it was when I went to bed! However, it hadn't and yes, the market is that quiet," Govett wrote from London.

Gold on July 3 dropped about $10 an ounce after the Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in June, which was the fifth straight month of more than 200,000 new jobs added. Investors typically buy gold as a hedge against rising inflation and decelerating economic activity.

Looking ahead, traders are hoping to glean critical details on Wednesday in the Federal Reserve's policy-making meeting minutes. While Fed Chairman Janet Yellen has reiterated that the Fed won't raise interest rates for a significant amount of time after the central bank ends its economic stimulus program, other Fed officials have said they think the fed funds rate will increase by the first quarter of 2015.